Monday, April 19, 2010

Gotham Yankee cont....

he bragged about his home brew. guests had the library, billard table, the view, they could stroll in the grounds or row on the pond, or take the family coach for a tour of the surrounding country.

Cullen would regale his guests with impersonations of individuals whom he had observed traveling abroad. often he would be the vain Wordsworth, or don turban & gown , jabber in broken english like an Arab sheik.

The Fountain and Other Poems published 1842The White Footed Deer and Other Poems published 1844.

most of his time was spent in NY instead of at Cedarmere. EVen after buying the farm, he kept a townhouse, in his middle years, a red brick dwelling on Carmine Street in Greenwich Village, in later years, a brownstore-fronted mansion at 24West Fifteenth Street.

the public knew him as the able, forceful, colorful editor of the New York Evening Post. adn despite his reserve &dignity was a truly colorful figure. he was a very memorable, very individualistic editor. people who saw him sitting at his desk or emerging into PArk Row or Broadway, or lunching on milk & fruit & graham bread at his favorite chophouse got the impression of a middlesized, middle aged man whose fastidious dress, conservative in cut & quite in color scheme, just escaped foppishness. he carried an old faded blue cotton umbrella. the Bryant women often tried hiding & replacing it, but gave it back. he had well trimmed side whiskers now turned a little gray, always harmonized with the spotless white cravat and perfectly fitting navy blue or black coat.

his big office desk littlered with manuscripts, documents, memoranda, clippings, pencils, quill pens, paste pots, what not, he scribbled his editorials on the backs of old letters and envelopes. once a colleague tried to tidy his desk while he was gone...there was such a scene no one ever did it again.

his stately deportment matched his neat correct attire. Diginity was the rule at the Evening Post. every one was addressed as Mr So & so, never by first name. Parke always called his father in law Mr Bryant at work.

Bryants' editorials were the most distinguished of their day.models of excellent sentence structure, apt diction, abounded in illusions that only an extraordinarily well read person could command. he didn't tolerate slovenly english, no inflated words, no improprieties, vague generalities, inane phrases, or vulgarisms. he practiced & encouraged witticisms. as long as they were in good taste.